Hongwu's Greatest Founding Hero: From the Start, I Join Zhu Chongba

The First Hero of Hongwu: From the Start, I Pledged Myself to Zhu Chongba is the epic tale of Shen Feng, a modern man who transmigrates to Haozhou at the end of the Yuan dynasty and rises from a starving beggar on the verge of death to Zhu Yuanzhang’s chief strategist. Armed with modern knowledge and historical foresight, he helps Zhu Yuanzhang emerge victorious from the infighting in Haozhou and lays the foundation for his cause by presenting a “Three-Step Plan for Rise.” He fights Chen Youliang, outwits Zhang Shicheng, and leads the northern campaign to capture Dadu, establishing the territory of the Great Ming. After the dynasty is founded, he becomes the chief architect of the empire’s blueprint: reforming the bureaucracy, compiling laws, establishing an academy of sciences, and promoting new learning. He sows the seeds of modern civilization across China six hundred years early, from the first steam engines to public health and global navigation. Amid the undercurrents of conflict between ruler and ministers and between old and new, he remains committed to the principle that “institutions matter more than rule by individuals.” He trains his successors and leaves behind a development plan for the next century, then quietly retires, having planted seeds in China that will transcend their age and point toward the stars and the sea. This is a sweeping epic intertwining personal struggle with the leap of civilization.